Because blogging is hard work....

He was sitting in my lap as I was blogging, and this was one of those days when he went nap-less so he was naturally a joy to interact with and all of a sudden I looked down and BOOM, he was out in that deep sleep...complete with the drool-y shirt and all. It was sooo cute, and I just had to snap a picture. See, little boys are such angels when they are sleeping....its only when they are awake that you question whether or not you are going to go bald before you are 30.. : )

Reunited and it feeels soo good!!!

YAY to husbands coming home from boat detachments and being with the family again!! Daddum we missed you soo much!!! We are so glad that you are home!!!! Beeecccaauusseee "..reunited and it feels so good..." can you just hear the song now??

Why do we have bedrooms??

Here is Clyde in his new "bedroom"...hmm....maybe now Daddum and I can make that third bedroom into an office like we originally intended??

Toddler boys are their own species...and an enigma for the rest of us!!

Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.
James Thurber

Lives and how different they are..

I was talking to a good friend a few nights ago on yahoo messenger (yay Jenn!!) and naturally being the Chats McGee that I am I starting spouting off about being a military wife and SAHM and how different our lives can be from non-military wives and I got to thinking....we ARE different. Not bad different and not necessarily good different...just different. For example Daddum is gone for work right now and he will be back next week and I am not really bothered by it; am I going to miss him-sure, am I am going to dread getting Bonnie ready for school at oh dark thirty everyday for week-you bet, does the thought of his det being delayed a week for random Navy reasons make a frustrated-somewhat.... but I am glad that Daddum does what he does for us everyday...you bet your mama's good china I do.

Having been in the Navy for a few years I feel like I am blessed enough to truly understand exactly what the Navy needs from Daddum are at a moment's notice. I don't get as mad as some other wives I know about military obligations, I get it...my husband belongs to the Navy first and our family after. It doesn't make me upset, and Daddum does such an excellent job making non-Navy time extraordinary for all of us that it has never been an issue, but it takes work-alot of it and dedication and love and grace from God and from each other. And I can say without a doubt one hundred percent we CHERISH that time together.

Now I am not trying to sound like a tough, g-money wife because that's not it at all...I am a crybaby sissy just like the rest of them sometimes- I think its natural and inherent to want to cry when they leave even if it is only for a few days, weeks whatever. There is ALWAYS that thought in the back far recesses of my brain that something could happen. Its the nature of the job, just look at Fort Hood, USS Cole, etc...I could list all day. Does it ever get easier to be a military wife and handle all the random, incessant, annoying, heartbreaking responsibilities? No I don't think so, I think you just get used to it, and you accept the void that's there when they are gone and try to keep moving along and making them proud of you on your home front until they get back.

When Daddum was in Florida for a year by himself I used to think.....now if he were here right now would he be okay with me doing this, or would this be the best decision for our family in his eyes. Most times honestly back then I didn't care, I felt like I was in survival mode and I had to do what I had to do to get by..in hindsight that was not the right response (for me). I should have given more and strived to give 100% all the time, I don't get that time back-but I have learned from that experience...this is my one shot running this show-aim high. This is my new mantra and in conjunction with my new mantra I have drawn on my most recent life experiences-the passing of Robert and Greg. I love them both and miss them sooo much and I am lifted up by the idea of them looking down on my lil family and smiling. I want to do them justice by my family, our time together was so brief but wonderful. And they gave it all-all the time.

Life is soo short...I don't think we all realize it and the idea of not doing everything in our power to live our days to the fullest and enrich our lives and the lives of our children/spouses just does not sit well with me anymore. This realization has pushed me to new limits and allowed me to strive for more. This has made me a better Christian, mother, wife and friend. So if I accomplish nothing else in this life I am glad that I was able to see the writing on the wall. In the words of Bonnie in the throws of a tantrum "...my life is changing..." here's praying that I can roll (and EXCEL) with it!!!

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke

Unexpected excellent surprises

Since I started couponing 6 months ago I have been exposed to several online outlets that allow you to try to win free products or prizes. One of these outlets is online contest/giveaways. Now for those of you that know me know that I am not an extremely lucky lady, I don't gamble, don't really enjoy card games like poker, and I never won much on those scratcher lottery tickets. But I enjoy playing the online contests and I am always looking to score free products for the house--and they range from things like candles, salsa, salad dressing, and the obvious DINERO; so I figure what the heck it can't hurt.

Well one of the contests that I go to fairly often is an online giveaway from Glade The Fragrance Collection Giveaway. I recently fell in love with these candles and reed diffusers (I have about 30 and I got them all for free!!!) and one of the prizes you can win through their giveaway is a coupon for a free 2oz soy candle all you have to do is turn over 3 cards with a picture of the 2oz candle on them. The other prize is a $100 AMEX Gift Card (seems unattainable...but a nice fantasy) which you can win by turning over 3 matching cards of a Glade 3 wick candle , well the other day I was on the puter and I logged in to do my daily contest and low and behold I turned over 3 cards with 3 wick candles on them!!! I was soo excited!!! But no window popped up to tell me I was a winner so I turned all the cards over and thought maybe that would do it. Nope, nothing.

Right away I emailed SC Johnson and told them in a polite email what happened and if there was anything they could do about it. I wasn't hoping for the gift card (although technically I thought I was supposed to win it), I would have been happy with a few coupons for free candles...did I mention I love these candles?? I didn't hear anything back so I called about a week later and they told me that I didn't win but thanks for my interest. I said thanks I kind of figured there was more in those Terms and Conditions than what met the eye. Oh well. But the guy that I talked to on the phone said he would pass the notes from our convo on to another department and let them make the final call. Ok whateva, probably not going to hear back from them but at least I did everything in my power to see the sitch through.

Well this evening I got a call from SC Johnson and a very nice lady named Eileen told me that she was sorry about the confusion and thanks for being patient and in about 4-6 weeks my $100.00 AMEX Gift Card would be in the mail!!! I had won and for some reason it was not officially recognized on the computer but since I had gone through all the appropriate channels and been a patient lady (Beth and Jenn if you are reading this don't fall out of your chair laughing at the idea of me be patient...I have been patient every now and again...like leap years or somethin) they were mailing out the gift card!!!!! I KNOW CRAZY RIGHT!!! Sooo hopefully right before Christmas the Pickle Fams will hopefully be getting a little last minute stash of Holiday Money!!! SO EXCITING!!! I am super grateful and I just thank God that I was graced with this little blessing!!!

In closing I would just like to state that those silly online giveaways work and I was kind of a skeptic before but I am a total believer now....try these little contests...they can work and sometimes you can even win big!!! What's 2 minutes of your time...it took that long to read this post...and in that time you could be a hundred dollars richer!!!

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

My darling son

The Top Picture was taken this morning. The Bottom Picture was taken yesterday.

Soo in true "Clyde" spirit there was an accident in the Pickle fams yesterday. And it involved screaming, blood, concrete and the poor darling extremely handsome face of my 2 year old. My kids were outside playing in the back yard on the patio, I had just walked inside to write something down and all of sudden I heard Bonnie scream followed quickly by Clyde's BLOODCURDLING screams!! I ran outside and came face to face with a bloody creature that pseudo resembled my baby boy. There was blood everywhere....leaking profusely from his nose, spilling out of his mouth and his nose was flat and purple. I immediately starting freaking out on the inside...I am usually calm when it comes to emergencies that involve my children but I have NEVER seen that much blood coming out of one of my babies. I ran into the house with him in my arms and headed straight for the bathroom to rinse his face off and see where exactly he was bleeding from. I screamed at Bonnie to get Daddum because he was resting before watch and as he comes flying out of the bedroom I realized that there is a huge gash on the inside of Clyde's lip and he is bleeding from BOTH nostrils. Daddum takes over holding Clyde because by now our son is hysterical and shaking and he screams at me to call 911.

Again one of the perks to living in the forest-y, secluded parts of Mississippi--the nearest hospital is 35 minutes away!! So the NAS Meridian Fire Dept and EMT's arrive and god bless them but seriously they looked more puzzled over the situation that Daddum and I were. Then a base police officer comes barreling through the door like he is playing out the first stage of his hostile takeover of the Dill house. AAGGHH!!! He needed me to fill out some paperwork, I am assuming because we had called 911-I dunnoo...I just knew that at that moment I did not care about paperwork I just wanted the blood bath that was my son's face to stop!!! They said we could not ride in the ambulance with Clyde because the EMT's needed to be back there with him and we would have to be buckled up in the front seat....ummm nooo. So we dropped Bonnie off at the neighbor's (THANK YOU FRANCOM FAMILY--YOU SAVED OUR DAY!!) and Daddum and I loaded up the PMV. Now Daddum said I was going 90 mph all the way to the hospital however I would like to claim temporary mph black out during the driving -I had one mission --get to the hospital QUICKLY so they could fix my son.

In what seemed like endless minutes and cruddy traffic lights (like who really needs those?? ) we made it to the Emergency Room and Daddum ran in with Clyde in his arms and we got seen fairly quickly...although if you ask me I think there was a smidge of lolly gagging going on and the ER nurses could have moved a LITTLE faster. But anyways our nurse came in told us Clyde's nose was probably broken (AAAHHH!!! SHOCK!!! HORROR!!!! SADNESS!!! My darling son and his handsome Dill nose--it would totally not be the same!!) and that they wanted to either take X-rays or a CT Scan to see how MANY bones in his nose may be broken!!! OHMIGOSH!! Insert near hysterical and guilt ridden Mama here, Daddum kept his cool and just kept saying "We'll figure it out and the doctors will take care of him.." We went back for a CT scan with Clyde and we kept singing to him to keep him calm; I am sure we looked like a totally sane parents belting out "ABC's" and "You are my sunshine" in the rooms and the hallways of the hospital. But Clyde did beautifully in the CT and minus Daddum singing a slightly LOUD rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" we got out of there unscathed. So then the dreaded part....we wait until a radiologist can read the scan and we go from there.

While we were waited eons for the results (ok ok it was probably closer to a half hour but I was still a little hysterical and I needed answers, results, Jesus, a slap, and some chocolate-what can I say I am a nervous eater) Clyde fell asleep and we calmed down and re-centered a bit, well Daddum was pretty calm but I re-centered during this down time. Then miracles upon miracles the ER doc walked in and told us that there Clyde did not have a BROKEN NOSE!!! PRAISE JESUS!!! The doc said that although his nose looked like a prizefighter's work and despite the amount of bleeding Clyde was just banged up real good. And on a totally unrelated tangent apparently my son has bad sinusitis and needed a shot of antibiotics to combat the inflared sinuses. Clyde was back to his normal self after his ER power nap and the Parents ran into WAGS to get his prescriptions filled looking like homicidal maniacs with blood ALL over our clothes but oh well. All's well that ends well.

Its now been 3 days and the skin around his eyes are going black and the swelling looks bad but my son is going to be okay. He hates us putting triple antibiotic ointment on his road rash but he just fights us for a second and then he gives in. He is on antibiotics for a few weeks and we are trying to give him meds to combat swelling (ice packs would be better but have you ever tried keeping an ice pack on the face of a 2 year old banshee, I meant boy...haha...I would have a better shot achieving world peace.)

Thank the Maker that it all worked out..the power of prayer!!! And I think it goes without saying that inside play is the only kind that the Pickle kids will be partaking in...preferably atop mounds of pillows and blankets while wearing helmets and mouth guards!!! Just kidding, well sort of....not really....hmm...now where are the helmets?? Ohhh...a day in the life of the Pickles!!!

I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war.

GEORGE W. BUSH: